Suit blames energy firm for Texas wildfire
DALLAS — An energy company based in Minnesota is facing blame for the largest wildfire in Texas history and has been sued by a Texas Panhandle resident, court documents showed.
In the lawsuit filed Friday, attorneys for Hemphill County resident Melanie Mcquiddy say a wooden utility pole located about a mile north of Stinnett, in Hutchinson County, “broke” and fell Feb. 26, “igniting” the Smokehouse Creek wildfire.
The wooden utility pole is allegedly owned and operated by Southwestern Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, a publicly traded company based in Minnesota, according to the suit.
The suit argued that “gross negligence” from the two companies, along with a third — Osmose Utility Services — that was hired to inspect and report on the utility poles caused the fire.
“Unfortunately, for the people living, ranching, and working in the Texas Panhandle, the scourge of utility-caused wildfires has happened again, giving rise to the filing of this lawsuit,” the suit states.
The plaintiff is seeking compensation for damage to real
and personal property caused by the wildfire.
The suit was filed in Hemphill County, court documents showed. Mikal Watts, who is representing Mcquiddy, did not immediately return a request for comment.
As of about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, the blaze, dubbed the “Smokehouse Creekfire,” was estimated to be more than 1 million acres and 15% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service incident map. At least two people have died in the wildfire, the
largest in Texas history and one of the biggest in U.S. history. Fires began sparking in that area Monday.
In a filing to the Securities Exchange Commission last week, Xcel Energy noted that a law firm had sent the company a “notice of potential exposure for damages resulting” from the Smokehouse Creek fire. The firm also requested that a fallen utility pole “within the vicinity of the fire’s potential area of origin be preserved,” the filing read.
“Investigations into origin, cause, and damage of the wildland fires burning in or near the service territory of SPS, including the Smokehouse Creek Fire, are underway,” the filing says.
In July 2023, Xcel Energy was sued by dozens of insurance companies in connection with a deadly 2021 blaze called the “Marshall Fire ” in Colorado, according to a report by the Associated Press. The company has denied that its equipment was a cause of the fire, the news outlet reported.
In a written statement Saturday, a spokesperson for Xcel Energy said the company is working to help those affected by the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle.
“We will continue to work in coordination with first responders and local officials to support the power needs of our communities. There has been no official determination of cause or causes for the fires in the Texas Panhandle and investigations are ongoing,” the company’s statement read.